Last updated on January 2nd, 2024 at 01:47 pm
When you turn on the ignition, you will see lots of symbols and lights on the dashboard, and the tire pressure warning light is one of them. If the Tire pressure monitoring system is installed in your car, you will see the light on your ignition, however, when you start the engine, all lights will go off.
The warning light of low air pressure looks like a horseshoe with an exclamation mark inside it. It’s okay if the light is showing on the first ignition, however, if the light appears after starting an engine or while driving the car, it means that something is wrong with either your tires or with the sensors. This is an alarming situation, and you should resolve this issue as fast as possible to avoid any future hurdles.
Table of Contents
Reasons for Tire Pressure Warning Light
Low tire pressure
The most common and basically the purpose of a tire pressure warning light is to appear when any of the tires in the car has low air pressure, commonly 25% below the recommended pressure. For whatever case, as your tire pressure goes below the minimum level, the tire pressure warning light will appear on your car’s dashboard.
Non-reset sensors
Another reason for the warning light to appear on the dashboard when the sensor requires resetting. Sometimes, this happens when you have checked all tire air pressure, yet the light is still there; in this case, you might have to drive for a few miles, and if there is still a light, you will have to reset all the tire pressure sensors to get rid of this light. If you don’t know how to reset TPMS, you can read the complete guide on that.
Tips to Handle Tire Pressure Warning Light
Tire pressure Inflator
A portable Tire pressure inflator and gauge come very handy in case there is a tire pressure light coming in between your journey. The tire pressure gauge helps you check the air pressure in each tire, and if there is some tire low in the air, with a tire inflator, you can fill the air in the air and continue toward your journey.
Dashboard TPMS
Unlike traditional tire TPMS, there are new sensors that give exact results of air pressure in the multimedia screen. This dashboard result shows the exact air pressure, temperature, and other things about each tire. So in case, there is a low air pressure warning light appears, you can easily check which tire is low on air and just fill the air of that specific tire, rather than checking each individual tire one by one.
Punctures or flat tires
Before filling the air on the deflated tire, just check if there is a puncture on it. As you fill the air on that tire, for some time, the low-pressure light will go off, but after some time, it will reappear after a few miles. Rather than filling the air on tires, it is better to ensure that the tire is in good condition without having any puncture or hole in it.
Unbalanced tires
Just like puncture, also check if the tire and wheels are unbalanced or unaligned. If that is the case, not only tire air will drop quickly, but it is also very dangerous if you are driving on highways or in off-terrain conditions. Tools can help you identify whether the tire is aligned with the wheel or not. Also, you can go to a tire shop to get it fixed if that is the problem.
Check spare wheels
The concept of a tire pressure warning light is to keep appearing unless all the tires in a car are truly above the minimum level of air pressure. It includes all four running tires, and the spare wheel if it is in your vehicle. So check the air pressure on the spare wheel as well as other tires of a car to get rid of the light. If a spare wheel is not equipped with the tire pressure sensor, then it is not necessary to check the spare wheel, just check those wheels which are equipped with the sensors.
Replace Sensors
Just like everything, the tire pressure sensors also have a life. As they run on batteries, their batteries could get low, or they are damaged. Whatever the case, you should check the tire pressure sensors as well as all the other things, when you are trying to get rid of the warning light.
Update Software
There are two types of TPMS, direct and indirect, direct TPMS will definitely start working by following any of the top advice. However, indirect TPMS are not physical sensors, they are software-based. To reset or update it, you will have to update the TPMS, which will resolve the issue of the warning light. To do by yourself, check this article.
Never Avoid the tire pressure warning light
It is not a good thing to drive your car with the tire pressure light on; whether you know the cause of this light or not, you should get it fixed. In case you have already made sure that the light is appearing because it required resetting; however, whenever in future any of your tires are flat or low on air, you won’t be able to find it, which is very dangerous and could lead you into a very damaging accident. That is why make it a priority to resolve this warning light, to keep yourself and others on the road safe.
Conclusion
The tire pressure warning light is a very important indication that there is something wrong with the tires, and you check them. Since its adaption in vehicles, the proven number of accidents has reduced due to tire-related problems. It is so important that the US government has made it compulsory for every car manufacturer to equip this in their new vehicle. That is why you should never ignore the sign of tire pressure and resolve it as soon as possible to avoid any discomfort in the future
